TERRY PRATCHETT - "THE FIFTH ELEPHANT" (CORGI)

 

In "The Fifth Elephant", we get leading parts for Duke of Ankh-Morpork and Watch Commander Samuel (Sam) Vimes and the weirdly likeable Carrot. With supporting roles for Angua (as well as her werewolf family), quite a few vampires and more than just a handful of dwarfs.

Pratchett seems to like the way he went with "Carpe Jugulum", insofar that is once again a story with more than the usual amount of suspense. In fact, "The Fifth Elephant" could be classified (such as reviewers are wont to do) as an international-political-spy-murder-mystery-intrige-thriller story with just a hint of horror. Maybe I had so far blocked it away, but to me it seems as if it's the first Discworld novel in which people (and others) actually die. There's a dwarf coronation coming up, there's some really horrible werewolves, there's the murder of a (relatively) innocent maker of rubber things and there's a watch with Fred Colon at the head (and the resulting Watchmen Union).

As the plot thickens (there's plenty of it) it becomes increasingly difficult to put the book down. Pratchett has done it again, and as far as I'm concerned this is the best Discworld novels of the past few years.

Released 2000, ISBN 0-552-14616-1

RK

 

Written January 2001

 

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